The Pilbara
The basic plan for this trip: Marcus and Jude drive Lara and Paddy (Marcus’ car) up through the Pilbara to Broome via Mt Augustus (the biggest monolith in WA) and Karijini. Jon, Mel and Karlie fly into Broome about 10 days later and then we’ll start our round trip through the Kimberley. Rough plan for the Kimberley is to drive via the Gibb River Road to Kununurra with a big side trip to the Mitchell Plateau. After Kununurra we want to head down to Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) and hopefully Wolfe Creek (nope – we haven’t watched the movie yet, we will watch it when we get there…). Jon has to leave us after the Bungle Bungles as he is going back to work and we’ll continue with places like Tunnel Creek and Geiki Gorge before dropping off Mel and Karlie at the airport in Broome. Marcus and Jude will drive the cars back down to Perth again…
July 2009: We’re back – the trip has ended… 44 days of holidays…time flies! This is the story of the Pilbara part of the trip, check out the rest of the trip in the Kimberley post.
On 20 May, Marcus & Jude departed Perth after spending the day packing Lara and Paddy. We only left Perth late in the afternoon and drove to our first campsite at random. Happy to camp anywhere, we found a spot in Tathra NP. Not much there in terms of facilities, but it has a beautiful sandy track off the main road. Perfect spot.
Mt Augustus is our first destination and it is absolutely stunning. We can’t believe there is hardly anybody making the effort to come out here. There are several hikes you can do, including one to the summit and up one of the gorges (Kotka Gorge) and there are some locations with aboriginal art work as well. We spend 2 days there, doing all the hikes and almost losing my clothes in the river…
Lara at sunset
wedge tail eagle
hiking to the top of Mt Augustus
we made it to the top
they are so elegant!
Kotka gorge
awesome views from Kotka gorge
this is what paradise looks like
dingos hanging around a dead cow
On our way to Karijini, Paddy had a few too many flats so we left her by the side of the road and drove via Tom Price to Paraburdoo with Lara. With only a bit over 1l diesel left in her tank (because Tom Price had run out of diesel!) we just made it. With the help from Tony, Marcus bought some new tyres and we were on our way back to Paddy again. We found her alright and spent another night by the side of the road.
we were experts in plugging flat tyres after a while
slightly downhil, but absolutely perfect spot
end of a great road: Meekatharra – Ashburton Rd
Tony’s backyard full of Mickey Thomson’s tyres
Karijini is just the best. It is the most stunning location in the world, with so many hikes, swims, climbs and the most amazing views ever, we happily spent the rest of the time here before having to drive up to Broome to meet Jon.
another awesome camp spot in Karijini
Joffre falls – beautiful
end of Knox gorge for us as we didn’t carry ropes that day
Marcus going a bit further in Knox
water flow in Knox
on the way out of Knox
Knox again, so pretty
can you believe nature created this?!
flow before the big waterfal at the end of Weano
looking into Red gorge from the top of the waterfal in Weano
you can just see Jude near the top in her bright pink top
hiking back through Weano after climbing down the waterfall
in Red gorge, Weano waterfall in the background with great hair
We found a little camp spot on Dingo loop at the Dales campground (with plenty of dingoes roaming around and through our camp site!), hiked up the highest mountain in WA (Mt Meharry at 1250m), explored gorgeous gorges, swam in plenty of waterholes and had showers under waterfalls. And then completely random we met John and Scooby who had also been at Tony’s in Paraburdoo. We enjoy some cold beers with them and unfortunately miss them the next night. They leave a note with their contact details and we manage to meet up with them in Broome. Temperature differences each night are amazing, some so cold I need to wear my sleeping bag when drinking the port and on other nights it is comfortable to sit outside just wearing a fleece.
some iron ore in the world’s longest trains
highest gps reading you can get in WA…
at the top of Mt Meharry
first proper shower in a week 🙂
the amazing steps of Fortescue falls
beautiful Stuart Desert Pea
some blue asbestos – laying around everywhere
blue asbestos in situ
government trying to ‘cover up’ the asbestos mine site with blue metal
some more asbestos in the creek beds
Paddy having fun
pretty flowers in Wittenoom gorge
wow wow wow, you need to see this to believe it!
more funky lines in Hamersley gorge
amazing waterfalls in Hamersley Gorge
the colours, the lines – just stunning
Jude at the bottom
it’s like you’re walking in a painting of Dali, but then more surreal and more beautiful
spa pool in Hamersly Gorge
Jude and Marcus go for a swim in the spa pool
amazing waterfall in Hamersley Gorge
another pretty waterfall
folded lines – Hamersley Gorge
John and Scooby had booked us into their camp ground in Broome for the night and we went straight to Divers when we got there. We also met up with Sean who joined us after dinner for some drinks. Well, quite a few drinks. The party ended on Cable beach just outside our camp ground with lots of drinking, singing and some skinny dipping. Unfortunately both Marcus & Jude’s phone didn’t survive the night…
some iron ore in the world’s longest trains
having drinks in the pub – John, Sean, Marcus and Scooby
Marcus and Jude on Cable beach, we probably haven’t realised we lost our phones by then…